La Drivers Union Por Por Group - Honk Horn Music of Ghana (special)
SKU
11-SFW 40541
I can't really describe this because it's basically indescribable, but I'll try. Por Por music is music for honk horns (think that horn on your old bicycle with a rubber bulb) that developed by truck drivers in Ghana. The music features vocal chants, percussive beats (played on whatever hunks of metal happened to be handy) and the all-important squeeze horns. Think bicycle horn + Konono No 1 + Steve Reich + noise + dance music. Comes with a huge booklet of notes and photos. This music shows that ideas and inspiration and great results are ultimately not dependant on expensive tools. At least not always.
"This album is touted as "a world premier" of Por Por (pronounced paaw paaw) music with squeeze-bulb honk horns, bells, drums, and voices. It was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence on March 6, 1957. First, a note about the individual who researched, recorded, annotated and photographed the project. Steven Feld is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Music at the University of New Mexico. His research principally concerns the anthropology of sound and voice. Studying global sounds of the rainforest, Greek Macedonia, Africa and more for over three decades, he has been recognized for lifetime achievement in the field of ethnomusicology. The squeeze bulb circular brass car horn was first brought to Ghana by Indian traders. Dating to the early-1940s, Por Por is a type of music of timber truck drivers in Accra. Horns and percussion insured protection of disabled vehicles after dark. As a flat tire was being pumped up, others would surround the vehicle and bang out support and scare off animals. The music's format resembles elephant tusk or African horn ensembles, but it has a distinctive tire-pumping dance accompaniment with a variety of African rhythms (agbadza, kolo, ogeh, adowa, kpanlogo). The extensive liner notes by Professor Feld also acknowledge the influence of big band and jazz music in its development, and one might even hear some jazz horn riffs. Por Por became ritualistic for exclusive performance at the funerals for other transport workers. On this album, Por Por music is played by the La Drivers Union. "Mammy wagon" was the name given to the original open-sided wooden trucks that were often filled with women transporting agricultural products like yam and cassava. Because the vehicles were declared too unsafe for inner-city transport in the 1960, the Drivers Union now operates trotros or minibuses for Accra's public transport. The songs of the La Drivers Union Por Por Group are about conflict, struggle, praise, love, poverty, sorrow, and generally life's circumstances. This is a unique kind of rhythmic world music that clearly had its origins in materials at hand, as well as a need to use it for protection and to now simply sound off in a celebratory manner. The album ends with the lively group honking up some "Por Por Horn-to-Horn Fireworks" in celebration of their nation's independence."-Joe Ross